discipline and beets

One of the reasons I created this space was to give myself some creative momentum. I’m used to the imminent nature of a professional job. Whether you like it or not, you have to set your alarm, get dressed, pack lunches, eat breakfast and get out the door. Once you’re there, the school day has its own energy. The students arrive to class, and despite your mood or particular desire to be “on” that day, you find the will to smile, act really enthusiastic about the similarities between apes and humans (well actually, I kind of love that lesson), and teach some important curriculum, and life, lessons.

I’ve never been the most disciplined of people. Prone to a wandering mind, I often start things and leave them unfinished because I’ve moved on to something else. That’s why I’ve always enjoyed and done well in structured environments: school, work, etc. When I know that there is an expectation or a deadline, I’m great. I guess a lot of us are like that. But lately I’m drawn to seeing if I could create my own structure, my own deadlines, and be responsible to myself. I’m doing this in a lot of different areas of my life, and the blog is just one of them. Knowing that it’s there motivates me to write. My five recipes in five weeks project forces me to actually try something new.

I’m not sure how this exactly segues to beet juice, but here we are. I get delivered a box of local produce every other week, and I have been drowning in beets. There are only so many roast beets a human can eat, so I decided to juice them. I was a bit scared, which is why I’ve never done it before. I mean beets are a pretty hard vegetable, how could they possibly be juiced? For the last month I’ve thought about juicing them, but been too intimidated to try. This morning I decided this was ridiculous. They’re just beets! It’s just juice! It was a little bit of a mess for sure, but the final product was a very refreshing drink.

A general recipe below. Makes about 4 cups.

8 to 10 small beets

4 large carrots

2 grapefruits

I juiced from hardest to softest: beets, then carrots, then grapefruit. I stored the juice in an airtight jar in my fridge and I think it’ll keep at least for another day. They say you should have fresh juice immediately to reap all the health benefits, but cleaning out a juicer isn’t the quickest task, so I made enough for tomorrow as well.